My Posthumous Piece

Huckleberry Finn faked his own death in hopes of finding a life of freedom. Thus, the famous quote from Samuel Clemens' pen, "The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."

The rumors of MY demise are completely accurate. Write the obituary. Perry is dead. Like Huck Finn, I had to die to truly live. Huck was a slave to a mean, drunk father. I was a slave to sin. Huck faked his death. I haven't faked anything. I just up and died.

In fact, being a fake is one of the reasons I died. I saw God's righteous demands and knew I couldn't live up to them. "For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness" (Psalm 11:7). "As He who called you is holy (perfect), you also be holy in all your conduct" (1st Peter 1:15).

Isaiah let me know that my righteousness "is like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Actually, my righteousness was worse than that. It was more like filthy beach towels. Filthy drapes. Filthy parachutes.

I didn't stand a chance. So, I did the only thing I could do. I died. I'm not alone. Paul, who was chief of sinners until I came along, wrote, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

I'm no longer who I once was. I died to me. Dying is not an easy process. My old corpse still wants to call the shots, so it is a daily thing. I die daily.

If you understand this about me, then it will help you understand why I preach what I preach. When I preach the righteous demands of God, it isn't because I have lived up to them. It is because I have died to myself and my efforts so that I can allow Jesus, the perfect Son of God who lives in me, to live up to them through me.

I don't have to be holier than thou. I have to be holier than me. I have to be holier than I can be. How is such a thing accomplished?

I empty me of me. I refill me with Him.

I am killed, then filled.

I'm sure this sounds strange to many. It sounds strange to me! But I know of no other way to honestly say what I know is true. Search it out. Read Jesus. It's all there. Jesus spoke of the necessity of the seed falling into the ground, dying, and being buried before it can bear fruit.

When I am terminated, He is germinated.

It is a doubly vicarious relationship that Jesus and I share. He died FOR me so that He could live IN me. I die TO me so that He can live THROUGH me.

I guess what I'm saying is...

Don't die trying. Try dying.

posthumously written by perry crisp...may he rest in the Prince of Peace.